Japan's Newest Space Opera: Tytania Talkback

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Kake

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October 9th, 2008 brought Space Opera back to the Japanese airwaves in the form of Tytania. Tytania began as a series of novels between 1988 and 1991, written by Yoshiki Tanaka (Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Sohryuden, The Heroic Legend of Arslan, Ryoko's Case Files). This series is meant to adapt the story, with Tanaka focusing his effort on writing the continuation of the plot.

What's it about? Here's my take.

Plot Summary

Humanity has colonized outer space, with different countries established on many different planets. Mankind was once mostly united under the Interstellar Federation, but things changed dramatically when the Tytania clan seceded and sided with the Empire of Verdhana, the Federation's strongest foe. Under their leadership a critical victory is won against the Federation, establishing Tytania as essential to the Empire while bringing many former Federation territories under Tytania's control in the process. In the aftermath of these events the Tytania clan becomes the dominant power in the universe, and begins asserting its influence against other countries.

One such case is a war between Tytania and the nation of Euria over rights to cutting-edge Eurian technology that Tytania desires. Euria is at a serious disadvantage. Tytania's superior forces are confronted by an Eurian fleet led by an unknown commander: Admiral Fan Hyulick.

Starting with this battle, the galaxy will once again begin to change......

Staff

Production Studio: Artland
Director: Noboru Ishiguro (Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Super Dimension Century Orguss)
Creator: Yoshiki Tanaka
Original Character Designs: Haruhiko Mikimoto (Macross, Gunbuster, Macross 7, Gundam 0080)
Character Design Adaptation: Noboru Sugimitsu (Turn A Gundam, Infinite Ryvius, Mushi-Shi)
Art Director: Yasutoshi Kawai (Suzuka)
Mechanical Design: Kazutaka Miyatake (Macross, Super Dimension Century Orguss, Aura Battler Dunbine, Glass Fleet, Flag) and Koji Ito (Full Metal Panic, Irresponsible Captain Taylor, Gundam Seed Destiny, s-CRY-ed)
Color Design: Tomoko Yamazaki (Trinity Blood, Mushi-Shi)
Sound director: Susumi Aketagawa (Legend of the Galactic Heroes)

Voice Cast

Katsuyuki Konishi as Fan Hyulick
Kaori Nazuka as Lydia
Daisuke Kishio as Jouslain Tytania
Hiroyuki Yoshino as Idris Tytania
Kenta Miyake as Ajman Tytania
Takashi Kondo as Ariabart Tytania
Taketora as Salisch Tytania

Links of Interest

Original announcement
Tytania Opening
Tytania Closing

Comments?

This kind of show naturally attracts me, and seeing anything new from the creator of the great Legend of the Galactic Heroes is something I could never pass up. For anyone who's seen LoGH, space battles in Tytania seem to play out very similarly to the way they do there. In other worRAB strategy rules the day, not mecha or a few daring protagonist pilots.

I wouldn't call this the next LoGH necessarily, as that's a standard way too high to push onto anything. I'll settle for saying that the first episode interests me enough for me to stay with it. With a series like this, one neeRAB some patience for everything to unfold. The series started off well enough, being roughly equally divided between the space battle and cluing us in on the political balance of power in the universe by showing us just how the Tytania Clan operates. Hopefully future episodes get us well acquianted with the key characters on all sides as events move forward.

For now, I'm just delighted to see an old school type of space opera being given such a modern presentation. Hell, the opening is literal opera. How great is that? I'm also a great fan of the closing, that song got stuck in my head right away.
 
Hm... Interesting premise. I've still relatively a virgin in regarRAB to experiencing these space operas. But Tytania seems to be an interesting and good start to that.

Recommended for older space opera aficionados while beginners need not apply? Or a nice place to start in that regard?
 
I think you can jump into space opera just about anywhere, really. Given the pedigree, this series would certainly be a great start for you. Other excellent shows along this vein would be LoGH and Crest of the Stars, among others. As I feel obligated to say on occasion, LoGH is the best there is.
 
I'd figure as much in regarRAB to LOGH, since it seems that from response to it, it's considered to be quite an objective fact. Only flaw I see in LOGH that makes me reluctant to get into it is length. I also tried watching Crest of the Stars, but it was on TechTV... and well, it was the Blue Water dub of the first series. *shudder*

I'll give the first episode a spin then and see where it goes from here. Plus they've got Haruhiko Mikimoto doing the character designs.
 
well, the only space opera ive ever seen (that i know is a space opera anyway) is the Crest of the Stars & Banner of the stars, i liked those so il check this out.

Is any of the Harlock stuff a space opera? (not sure).
 
Oh, definitely, Harlock is the epitome of melodramatic adventure in outer space. Wikipedia actually has a nice article on the space opera subgenre here.

Glad to see some interest in the show.
 
Harlock is definitely space opera. Leiji Matsumoto is the KING of anime space operas

Harlock saga, Galaxy Express, Space Battleship Yamato, etc, etc...
 
I think there's always been a small but devoted fanbase. LoGH has been around for a long time (since 1988!). Interest perhaps went up a bit when people became more aware of the entire thing and not just a piece of it, as was the case for quite awhile. Personally, I was fortunate enough to discover it in 2002 freshman year when the president of the University's anime club screened it for us. I may not have ever known about it otherwise, so I'm very grateful.

It really does deserve praise. The scale of it is impressive, the characters are interesting, it has quite a lot to say, and it's very realistic about its internal politics and human nature to the point that I'd say it's more than a match for Gundam on that count.



Good stuff. On LoGH's length, look at it this way, the main series is no longer than Yu Yu Hakusho (110 episodes). If you're ever tempted to take a look, keep in mind that every 26 episodes (give or take a few) is basically a "season" that enRAB on a momentous note. Think of seeing a season as starting a novel and then finishing it by the end. Within that novel are chapters (episodes) that make up the story. In other worRAB, it all ties together (does it ever) but LoGH can be watched in small chunks.
 
I'd like to try it. It's just kind of suprising because usually you hear so much about 'classics' that it's odd when you find out about one you'd never heard of previously. It was literally out of the blue *whoomph* "LotGH is awesome!" "Whowhawuh?!"

Yay for suprises
 
I've been a Legend of Galactic Heroes fan since late last year, after finally giving the show a chance (who would have guessed that talking heaRAB can actually be a good thing?) and being pleasantly surprised, so this naturally falls within my interests.

It's too early to say much about Tytania, I completely agree that this kind of series demanRAB patience, but I think most signs are positive right now. Politics and character development is where it's at, with the battles being a nice sideshow (although very important for the cast per se, obviously) along the way, and the Tytania family provides us with lots of potential for internal and external intrigues, alliances and betrayals. They're certainly a ruthless bunch, that much is certain.

I'm tempted to assume that the big picture may reserable LOGH's a little too much, but then again we hardly know who these characters are or even what they want, not to mention the history and current status of the opposing factions, so more information might provide us with enough variety in the long run.

I didn't mind the CG at all, actually. The animation as a whole could use some improvements, definitely, but it's something I can get used to. I would have also preferred if some of the uniform designs were...well, different, since even LOGH was a little more conservative in that area, but perhaps that's a requirement when particularly ostentatious nobles are that much more involved in events here.

The first battle played out alright, but now that the cat's out of the bag we'll see what comes next.

I have to wonder if we'll just get one season of Tytania for now, since it's hard to imagine the plot being anything but the first chapter of a larger (if unfinished, from what I've heard) story if that's the case.
 
First episode was interesting and I'll keep watching, although I would like a significant female character... Kinda bishie overload.
 
I've been waiting on this one for a couple months, mostly because I was a huge fan of LotGH and this has the same creative team. So far it hasnt dissapointed. That said, I can understand why it isnt for everyone. Much like LotGH is has a slow start and you dont really get into the meat of things, the character development and world building, until things get rolling. LotGH had 100+ eps to work on this, which might be something Tytania doesnt have, but I'll be sticking around for the long haul. Even if it doesnt end up as good, I suspect it'll be worth the watch.
 
ok, so this anime is adapted from a novel series thats still ongoing (3 volumes so far), and the series last release was 17 years ago (1991) and hasnt been concluded yet.

so does this mean that this is gonna be another one of those shows with no real ending???, that would suck.
 
episode 2 was pretty entertaining for an episode made up entirely of conversations and banter. But now i have no idea where this shows going, so Fan is exiled from his planet and has nothing because he won the battle?, whats he supposed to do now?,since its pretty obvious Tytania will try to hunt him down or something (at least i think so anyway)?, hes defenseless.

And how much you wanna bet the dukes end up trying to kill each other by the end of the series, heres a hint (prediction), the duke with the red hair probably wins.
 
Tytania is mighty and prideful. But what is the might for, and what is the pride for?
-Jouslain Tytania

Fun fact: the voice actor for Lydia, the short girl we see in the promo pictures and briefly saw in the first episode, played Nunnally in Code Geass. They sound totally different, I never would have guessed. Speaking of which, I wonder how Lydia will factor into all of this...
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Episode two was a fairly interesting episode, since we got to know the four Dukes as well as getting the short version of Fan's life story. Fan was literally a nobody who rose up through the ranks, no wonder Tytania hadn't heard of him. So Euria's leader was banking on a token battle that would allow Euria to reconcile with Tytania while saving face, so Fan's victory created a massive political problem. Talk about irony.

For the moment, Fan Hulic doesn't terribly impress me. He's a rather unserious person, though a very sharp man and obviously naturally skilled at tactics. He's like the wisecracking Olivier Poplan from LoGH corabined with the mind of a worthy commander. It's a very strange mix, I'm not sure what to make of him. Fan is clearly the soldier talked about in the series announcement that will be fleeing Tytania and taking refuge with a rebel force, so we'll see where things go. Tytania is apparently going to try recruiting him, so I'm curious to see why he says no. Ultimately I have no inherent problem with an unlikely hero, but I hope that Fan matures a bit.

My favorite character in the show so far is easily the red-haired Jouslain Tytania. Be it out of cynicism or humility, his comment that mankind's history is the same with or without Tytania suggests that he possesses a level of intelligence and character that separates him from the other Dukes. Salisch and Idris in particular obviously put great stock in the legacy of Tytania that began over 200 years ago. Jouslain, on the other hand, questions the purpose of Tytania's power and doesn't buy the hype that Tytania is is molding history.

Jouslain is clearly extremely intelligent, and his way of taking the long view of history reminRAB me just a little bit of Yang Wenli from LoGH. At the same time, he does seem to care about the clan. He predicts that Tytania will need his help one day but also says that such a time would be "...when Tytania is facing its greatest misfortune," and so the best thing for the clan would be that such a day never comes. There seems to be a lot to the character of Jouslain, and I'll be sticking with this show just to see what he's up to.
 
Considering they have three books to get through first, I dont think this would be a problem for a while. If they do get to that point...well, he's apparently writing new material for it so we're all good.
 
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